Taylor Swift can't read music?
Taylor Swift fans have long speculated about the extent of her musical talent, mostly focusing on whether the incredibly popular singer-songwriter can read music.
For example, one Reddit post on the topic claims, “Fun fact: Taylor Swift can't read music. She plays by ear!” “Does Taylor Swift actually read music?” a Quora user asked.
“She often writes melodies on guitar or piano and composes around them. Typical 'reading sheet music' music can sometimes have to be composed very mechanically, but Taylor's melodies are good because they come directly from her own creativity,” one Reddit user commented, while another wrote, “I feel like this is what she did for Miss Americana.” [a documentary about Swift’s career]When she comes up with a melody, she hums it into her mobile phone and then plays it on the piano or guitar.”
There are plenty of general articles answering this question, with titles like “15 Most Famous Musicians Who Can't Read Music” and “10 Legendary Musicians Who Never Learned How to Read Music.”
Swift answered the question herself in a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, saying, “I can't read music. I can read a little bit,” adding, “Reading music for me is like math.”
What do you want to major in when you go to college?
I wouldn't major in music because when it comes to the technical aspects of music, that's not my thing. I can't read music, although I can read a little bit. For me, reading music is math. I like to follow the path that music takes. I'm more interested in the emotion of music than the technique.
As of June 2024, we have not found any recent interviews in which Swift discusses her ability to read music. We have reached out to her representatives for comment and will update this article if we hear back.
It's worth emphasizing that it's possible for a pop artist to be quite successful without dealing with sheet music at all in the creative process, opting for a more intuitive approach. Furthermore, the fact that Swift can play piano and guitar and compose songs shows that she has musical talent. As highlighted in a 2017 BBC article, “Why does Taylor Swift write so many single-note melodies?”, the author states that even the single-note structure of many of her songs reveals her innate musical talent.
Her repetitive melodies, centered around a single note, are another part of her appeal, and her mimicking the intonation of spoken language emphasizes her intimacy.
It also helps that her lyrics are naturally conversational and colloquial: “We're Never Getting Back Together” is an awkward title, but it makes perfect sense in Taylor's teenage speech, giving the impression she's just hanging out with friends and chatting about boys (and mostly about boys).
Taylor uses this technique most often in the verses, moving the chords beneath her voice to give the melody a sense of movement, much like moving a light in a room casts different shadows.
When the chorus surges through the musical scale, there's a burst of energy, an emotional surge, and – I'm not the first to point this out – she has a flair for melodrama.
This isn't the first time we've investigated rumors about Swift: In May 2024, we looked into whether Swift really consumed 138 tons of jet fuel over a three-month period while visiting her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and in April 2024, we debunked a video clip that appeared to show Swift expressing her opposition to same-sex marriage.
